1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in a small-sized recording apparatus which is enabled to operate for a long period by using dry cells or the like as its power source.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A recording apparatus used generally in the prior art is connected with commercial power source lines. It is, therefore, customary to use a solar cell as the power source when it is intended to automatically record for a long period the temperatures or the like of mountainous places out of the way, where such commercial power sources are not available. However, high cost is required for the facilities of the solar cells, and still the worse there is no way but to uses the dry cells or the like when it is intended to record the temperatures of under-water or -ground places where no solar ray reaches. In this application, all the powers depend upon the dry cells so that the recording apparatus cannot stand prolonged use.
In order to solve these problems, I, the inventor, have disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,255 a battery-operated, dot type recording apparatus which is so constructed that the recording paper feed and the recording operation are alternately executed in short times and that a measuring instrument is actuated only during a period of time covering time intervals before and after each recording operation, the actuation of the measuring instrument and the recording paper feed as well as the recording operation being carried out at good timing in a short period of time, whereby the consumption of the battery is low, no high power is required at a time, and the recovery time of the battery sufficies, so that the battery is of long life. Thanks to the aforementioned constructins, the dot type recording apparatus has a result that it can carry out the automatic recording operations for a time period longer than three months by the use of four 1-U size dry cells and is practised in wide applications.
In addition, I have disclosed in the Japanese Utility Model No. 1,440,595 (i.e., the Japanese Utility Model Publications No. 46,164/1981) a recording apparatus which has a power source, in which a pointer of a meter operated by the power source is caused to hit pressure-sensitive recording paper thereby to record dots and in which aid pressure-sensitive recording paper is intermittently fed during the time period other than that for the dot type recording operation, said recording apparatus being chracterized in that said dot type recording operation and said recording paper feeding operation are conducted by means adapted to be regulated by an electric oscillator. The apparatus thus disclosed is enabled to switch the dot type recording operation and the recording paper feeding operation without any use of a clock mechanism.
In the recording apparatus disclosed in the above, however, it is the present practice that a precise and complex drive mechanism is used for operating the measuring instrument and a recording mechanism. This raises a problem that the operating accuracy is degraded in petroleum-producing tropical countries where the temperature change is drastic. Moreover, it takes a long time to adjust and maintain the delicate drive mechanism.